fading embers
by roguehunter11
Summary: 6 months, 6 months since the last of the human civilization fell. We can't call ourselves a civilization anymore, the closest there is to a government is a gang of raiders,bandits and general lowlifes. There are no rules except one... don't die.


**(A/n not abandoning my other story i just was hit with a smack of inspiration last night so here what came of it)**

"Get back" I warned my voice shaking slightly as I held the gun up pointing directly at the man not 15 feet in front of me "I'll shoot, I'm warning you."

At this the man just laughed and said "If you could you would've by now little girl, you don't have the guts to pull that trigger." the man then pulled out a knife and began walking leisurely towards me.

"Stay back!" I whisper my voice barely audible.

The man kept walking till he was barely 6 feet away.

"Get away" I screamed as a gunshot echoed though the room, the man's footsteps stopped.

"y-you bitch" the man said in a daze as blood started to flow out of his mouth. The man began coughing on his own blood and fell to his knees. The gun slipped from my loose fingers which had begun shaking, the gun clattered to the ground. The man fell to the floor in his last breath the man began to laugh "Kukuku fucking murderer ha hak" the man choked and then lay silent. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground shivering violently hot tears running down my cheeks.

I woke with a start my shirt sticking to my back with sweat. I was panting heavily but looking around the semi- familiar room my heart began to slow. "That dream again" I said numbly although that was not quite accurate it was less of a dream and more of a memory. It was a memory of 7 years ago the day I first shot and killed someone, and although it was the first it was not nearly the last. My eyes wandered the room coming to rest on a familiar figure his chest rising and falling as he breathed. His face held an innocent expression contrary to his normal mood in waking hours. Starring at the face of my friend, partner, and love interest seemed to work magic on my nerves and I felt myself relaxing sleep again calling me. I glanced out the window and saw to my surprise a hint of light on the horizon, it was almost morning. Shaking off my sleepiness I began to get ready checking over my weapons and ammunition. From behind me I heard someone yawn

"Morning Sinon" a tired voice said through his yawn.

"Morning Kirito" I replied smiling slightly.

"So what's today's plan?" the boy continued stretching as he stood up.

"Uhh, don't die?" I said

"Meh good enough for me" the boy replied checking his weapons and tying his combat boots.

It had been 6 months since the last real bastion of humanity fell to the hordes of mutated creatures and former humans that now overran the ruins of civilization. The two of us had been on the run since then, fighting, running, scavenging and looting just to survive. In the last few months we'd only seen a few humans that were… well still human. Yet despite this I was happy in a weird glad I'm not dead yet because just maybe kind of way. The only reason I still had any will to live at all the way the boy standing on the other side of the room. When I had met him I was on the brink of shooting myself just to end it all.

In the course of the last 5 months while I had been traveling with him things had taken almost a complete 180 for me except for the whole 'end of the fucking world' thing. I had a reason to live and even if he didn't feel the same way someone I would gladly die for. Of course I didn't really know how he felt because despite it he had one major flaw, sometimes he was dense.

Not dense like what 2 + 2 dense but dense like 'why can't you just fucking understand my feelings' kind of dense. I had tried to confess to the blockhead at least 3 times in the last 3 months and each time I got too embarrassed to continue thanks to his blockheadedness (or so I told myself). But despite that I was happy with the way things were going in general.

For one he seemed to trust me completely and scarcely got angry at me and even when he did it usually consisted of him speaking in an annoyed voice for like 3 minutes before he calmed down. It seemed like a fairly good foundation for starting a relationship. And if it came to it I could always pull out my trump card. You know the whole 'end of the world' thing and the 'some of the last humans on earth so we have to' card.

Of course I hoped it would not come to that but well that's the way things are. But after attempting to confess last time had ended in us almost dying because I was being careless I had vowed to not make a move until we were somewhere at least relatively safe. As it was the only thing protected us from a horde of mindless monsters was a makeshift barricade, a few magazines of sniper rifle rounds and Kirito's long sword and pistol.

We had begun to make plans to barricade of a nearby skyscraper (now a burned out ruin mostly) despite the devastated condition in the city there were a few mostly undamaged rooms near the bottom of the skyscraper, more than enough space for two people to live comfortably. The only thing preventing us from doing so was supplies and scrap to barricade with. With most of the city made of falling apart concrete and rusted metal we had been lucky to find enough stuff to barricade this small room. Kirito had come up with the idea to leave the first floor open and simply destroy all but one set of stairs and then barricade the remaining staircase. The only issue with this plan was that some heavy explosives or a jackhammer were not exactly common commodities after the apocalypse.

As a result we were slowing but surely picking away at the staircases with an old pickaxe Kirito had found lying around. Progress was slow and even once we finished we would have to gather a significant amount of supplies and store them in the building not to mention gather a large amount of scrap to barricade the stairs before we would be ready to seal off the staircase.

"Sinon" Kirito said for the third time.

"Hmm?" I said airily "oh sorry I was just thinking." I amended quickly

Kirito just smiled and repeated his question "We have about 2 weeks of food and water left and around 40 rounds left for your rifle and 60 left for my Sig Sauer, then we're down to melee weapons, you think there's any place around here were we can get some more ammunition?"

At this my face screwed up in though. We had barely been making it by ammunition wise having to rely mainly on melee weapons (Kirito's blade and my combat knife) but close quarters was risky (for me anyway, it was easy as breathing for Kirito). My train of though was interrupted by a gunshot from outside the building only around 100 meters away judging by sound. Getting down quickly the two of us made our way over to the window. Peeking out, I saw a group of men in black uniforms firing at something and recognized them instantly.

They were members of the 'Army' or so they called themselves. They were originally ruled by a man whose nickname was thinker. In those times the 'Army' was seen as a benevolent organization, but after thinker and his second in command's disappearance and a man named Kibaou took control things had gone downhill.

The army had become little more than a group of raiders and criminals. They roamed the land 'commandeering' stuff like food and weapons from people who needed it to survive and made it so the only way you could survive was to join up. It was often said that in the Army the first casualty was either you or your conscience.

"Looks like we found our source of ammo" Kirito said darkly staring intently at the men in black whom had just stopped firing and were now talking imperceptibly.

I nodded almost imperceptibly "I'll set up my rifle, you get up close for an ambush."

At this Kirito nodded and jumped out of the window… of a third story building… again. I sighed, well as Kirito had said "it's just a healthy green glow" after being exposed to a shitload of radiation and surviving with benefits. Peering out the window I saw Kirito land lightly on the uneven concrete. Moving over to a point in the wall where it was completely torn out leaving a perfect sniping point I set up. Breathing in deeply I aimed at the army soldiers in preparation centering my crosshair on the now motionless soldiers in the streets. Speaking in a whisper over a short wave radio I addressed Kirito.

"Are you almost ready?"

"I'm set on your mark" he replied

"Three," I whisper taking a deep breath

"Two" I rechecked my sniper rifle quickly and pulled back the bolt chambering a new round

"One" I aimed at my target painstakingly

"Engage" I whispered as the sound of fresh gunshots tore through the morning silence


End file.
